


with you is the hardest part

by opanimeboy



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Comfort. The Works Babey!, Enstars Shipping Olympics, Fluff, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Post-Graduation, Slice of Life, alcohol use in recreational setting; no overdoing it, background Sakuma Rei/Shinkai Kanata
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 16:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20118001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opanimeboy/pseuds/opanimeboy
Summary: Madara is fighting the system that the Shinkai-Mikejima families' have established for Kanata and himself. Kaoru is traveling with Rei to make a place in the idol world for their temporarily incomplete unit 'UNDEAD.' They don't have a lot in common except being busy, distant, and hopeless romantics. Plus their tag-along Eccentrics.___ESO Round 3! Only got one work done but it's based off all of the prompts!Every chapter of this series can be read as one-shots, but strung together in a specific order tells a chronological story.Prompts out of chronological order/posting order:1. Memories and Recordings2. Out On A Date3. Fight/Compromise4. Seasons5. Time Travel6. Strange Questions7. FoodFurther short summary of each story in the beginning notes and before each chapter.





	with you is the hardest part

**Author's Note:**

> Chronological Order:
> 
> 7\. Food  
2\. Out On A Date  
6\. Strange Questions  
1\. Memories and Recordings  
3\. Fight/Compromise  
4\. Seasons  
5\. Time Travel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PART FOUR. Prompt: Recordings and Memories
> 
> * * * *
> 
> "If you're playing mind games right now, I'm not in the mood. You were right on the money that it's morning here. What is your so called request?"
> 
> There was silence on the other end. Kaoru ran a hand through his bedhead and waited, feeling his patience running thin. Then, Madara chuckled.
> 
> "What's so funny?"
> 
> "Kaoru-san, this is the request. I wanted to talk to you."
> 
> ___
> 
> Both become very busy with adult life. Rei and Kaoru's careers are picking up, and Madara is trying to settle a multitude of life long traditions for a whole religion along with ensuring him and Kanata can come out of it with futures.
> 
> Madara and Kaoru make time for each other when they can. They leave voice recordings when they can't call, and when they can - they just talk about whatever, whenever. They catch up on each other, and sometimes Kanata and/or Rei will join in.
> 
> Madara and Kaoru learn more about the other in little things (cute stories that they divulge the other in, or funny high school happenings Rei and Kanata out them on) and fall harder, and it gets harder because they get busier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title is from Owl City's song under the same name.
> 
> If you like happy endings and are simply reading this first chapter as a one shot, I recommend you stop reading once you reach the line break (and are likely feeling adequately warm from fluff)!
> 
> I hope you have fun reading!

Kaoru had just woken up. Before even opening his eyes, he groggily felt around the bed for his phone. He heard a groan when he slapped what was definitely some part of Rei in their shared hotel bed, mumbled an apology, and felt growing frustration that his hand hadn't bumped into it yet.

When his knuckles finally hit the cold lump on his fourth reach under the pillow, he started blinking out the usual morning blurriness. It didn't completely clear before he stared at the too-bright screen, but that didn't stop him from slowly checking his notifications - looking for one in particular.

There was a missed call from Madara at 2AM, and Kaoru felt a pang of regret for not staying up just one more hour last night. Before he could begin his day fully disappointed, he noticed that there was a missed voicemail, too. His chest felt tight until Madara's voice rang clearly in Kaoru's ear through the phone static.

_ "Good morning, Kaoru-san! At least-- I _ believe _ it should be around then when you get this. _

_ It's not pressing, but I'm calling for a very special reason! I have a request of you if you're feeling as kind to grant it for this Madara Mikejima. _

_ Would you...call me back when you get this? Anytime is fine! That's--... _

_ Thanks. Talk to you later!" _

The message ended and the automated system asked what he'd like to do with the message. Kaoru hesitated before saving it, but he jumped out of bed into his slippers with minimal stumbling.

Walking to the balcony, he stretched while the call dial rang. The sound of someone picking up clicked once he'd slid the glass door shut.

"Hello?"

_ "Hello! You got back so quickly! I didn't wake you up or ruin your sleep, did I?" _

"What? No, you didn't do anything...but, uh, what's wrong, Mikejima-kun? What do you need from me? Are you okay?"

_ "Yes, yes-- I'm fine! I'm sorry if I made you worry! I do believe there's some confusion here, though; 'what do I need from you?'" _

"If you're playing mind games right now, I'm not in the mood. You were right on the money that it's morning here. What is your so called _ request _?"

There was silence on the other end. Kaoru ran a hand through his bedhead and waited, feeling his patience running thin. Then, Madara chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

_ "Kaoru-san, _ this _ is the request. I wanted to talk to you." _

Immediately, the growing annoyance and concern melted away with warm feelings of embarrassment and affection. He stared at the ground - as if anyone would see him blushing on the seventh floor.

_ "It's not an inconvenience, right? I thought--" _

"No! No, no, no. It's... it's fine. I...damn you. Give me a minute."

That made Madara laugh heartily on the other end, and Kaoru frowned. This jerk made him feel so many things so fast that it'd be nice to give him a taste of his own medicine.

_ "I feel so lucky that I can end my day hearing your voice," _ sighed Madara. _ "I like the way you sound waking up!" _

There was the unspoken thought that maybe, just maybe Madara was thinking, too; they wanted to hear each other after waking up besides one another. It made Kaoru's heart ache.

"Is it really late back home?"

_ "Not yet. The sun is almost done setting. There wasn't much to do today, so I visited some good kids at Yumenosaki and walked Anzu home from school." _

Kaoru perked up at that.

"You saw her? How is she?"

_ "You can't get too excited or I'll get jealous, okay?" _

"Please. I know you'd fight _ me _ for her, and I'd definitely do the same."

_ "You wound me, Kaoru-san! Hm...you are correct, though!" _

Kaoru laughed at the same time Madara did.

_ "She's working hard per usual. I was trying to lighten her load to make something up to her-- even if she doesn't want it." _

"What did you do so bad that needs to be made up for? I mean... it's _ Anzu _."

_ “Heh. I’ll tell you that story later, but… I did something inconsiderate. She didn’t even think it was worth my apology. After all the hours I spent agonizing over the issue, she tossed my feelings to the side like that. My daughter-- a heartbreaker, huh~.” _

“Don’t be gross about it. That’s just the way she is. Sometimes, she’s _ too _ good of a person. And way too forgiving.”

_ “Correct again!” _

There was a moment of thoughtful silence that Kaoru used to observe the city waking up below him. His eyes locked onto every brown head of hair he could see and felt a familiar sense of longing he’d gotten used to while traveling the past few weeks. He could have talked about how she was going to be a fantastic producer or joked with Madara that he still might have a chance with her. He could have pressed about what Madara did to her so he could be angry at him in her place. He could have said anything to keep that conversation going, but the way he felt had changed.

Madara and his last meeting along with how just hearing Madara made him feel lovesick was proof. It didn’t matter what he intended to say; the fact that the only face he could vividly imagine was the man he was talking to changed his mind. Emboldened that he wasn't face to face and couldn't embarrass himself too much over the phone, he opened his mouth.

He could always say it was a slip of the tongue.

"I miss you."

Sputtering, choking, and coughing was the response he got, alarming him.

“M-Mikejima-kun?!”

_ “Where’d that come from? You sly fox, Kaoru-san!” _ Madara rasped out, _ “It’s a wonder how she didn’t fall to your charm!” _

After what had just happened sunk in, Kaoru grinned so hard his cheeks started hurting.

“Even Madara Mikejima isn’t impenetrable to my charm, huh.”

_ “Do I seem like I wouldn’t be?” _

“Nope. I figured I’d get past your defenses sooner or later. That’s real cute of you, _ Miike-chan _.”

The forced laugh from Madara only spurred Kaoru on, and he cut off whatever Madara tried to say.

“If I was there with you, I'd walk you home. We would have watched the sun go down together, and I'd kiss your hand before saying goodbye."

_ “I wouldn’t let you go." _

The upper hand he had was short-lived. All of his romantic experience- for what? Just to be spectacularly outdone in one phrase, uttered softly and sweetly, by someone hundreds of miles away through a fuzzy receiver. His face burned. He closed his eyes tight until floating shapes filled his brain.

"I--"

The sliding door opened, and Kaoru turned around quickly. Caught in the act, his face felt even hotter when his disheveled friend just leaned on the doorframe and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I am sorry to interrupt, Kaoru-kun. We need to get packing, and I was hoping we could get some breakfast before then."

He got the message, so Rei slunk back into the room after dropping "Say hi to Mikejima-kun for me."

Madara spoke up.

_ "Need to go?" _

"Yeah…"

_ "I'll patiently wait for when you're free! Will you text me your time when you get to where you need to be?" _

Kaoru hummed a distracted affirmative, but he was stuck on the words "where you need to be." The longing started to feel suffocating.

"Actually...could you do something for me, too?"

There was a pause until Madara responded with a serious tone.

_ "It'd be my pleasure. What do you need?" _

"Could you...uh," he was wrong in thinking a phone call would change his levels of embarrassment, "could you leave me voicemails?"

_ "Voicemails?" _

"Yeah, or videos. Just...parts of you? That's… Nevermind. That's kind of weird. I'll text you soon, ok--"

_ "Kaoru-san." _

He stayed quiet.

_ "I miss you, too. I'll definitely send something, but I need content of you too, alright? I haven't been to the beach since our outing, but I'm sure you'll stave off my cravings~." _

Kaoru had nothing to say to that. He groaned and asked “Do I sound that cheesy when I say things like that?”

_ “I like it! It’s very charming, Kaoru _-kun.”

“I’m hanging up.”

_ “Good-bye!” _

“Bye.”

Kaoru wondered if his smile was audible.

* * *

Kaoru thought he'd get a few more voicemails when their times didn't match up and he'd inevitably miss a call. He didn't think he'd get a call once a week that he was _ expected _to miss along with voice messages that varied in substance.

Madara would sometimes just narrate what he was doing, or a short summary of what he did that day. Other times, he would divulge in the progress he was making in his work, and Kaoru would always text or call him back with as much support he had in him.

It was terribly cute and Kaoru was glad he made the request. However - it didn't stop there.

Madara began to send small clips of him and oftentimes Kanata -- occasionally Chiaki or whoever else they were around. Not only did Kaoru get to hear his boisterous voice, he got to see Madara's eyes crinkle when he smiled and the flyaway hairs that looked too stylistic to be unintentional. He couldn't figure out if Madara was naturally good at handling the camera (unsurprising) or if he just thought the guy was unsettlingly handsome all the time.

It made him feel like he was present back home, so he figured he'd return the favor. Kaoru hoped the selfies and Awkward Rei Recordings were amusing enough.

Kaoru appreciated the attention, but his favorite type of communication was video chatting. On special occasions, Rei and Kanata would join in from the background. Just like their night in town, they were all quite the force together, and Kaoru realized he'd really taken to the whole companionship thing. It made his days easier and he feared he'd get smile lines sooner than later.

Kanata always teased the three of them and somehow had sway on both Madara and Rei, and Rei would always out Kaoru on what embarrassing thing he'd done in their hotel room or in an interview. Kaoru would gripe and do the same thing in turn, and the two in Japan would laugh at their dynamic.

He learned more about Madara and Kanata's childhood and was confused on how they got to where they were then. It wasn't too important; he was proud of how far they'd come. All four of them had grown from very different people.

When Madara and him made eye contact, it felt like shocks would go through Kaoru. It happened every time, and he prayed it wasn't obvious to their friends, or worse - Madara himself. The grainy camera quality did nothing to lessen Madara’s overwhelming attention to detail, and Kaoru made sure he was put in the best light possible for the calls. He was really, terribly head over heels for the dude.

Any form of contact with Madara was addicting. He had so much fun and eagerly waited for the next time; he couldn't get enough, and it substituted what they didn't have in person.

Kaoru had such a good time that he didn't realize that eventually, he actually wasn't getting enough.

Rei and him had picked up one large gig that got them a boatload of connections, and the work requests had been flooding in. With one more semester to go, they'd been contacting their younger teammates more and more in preparation for their arrival on the idol scene, and the older two continued honing their own skills. Kaoru had less and less time to be on his phone for enjoyment and slept when he can. He wasn't the only one silent, though.

Kanata had made a breakthrough and was getting audience with members of the Shinkai clan's older supporters. After that message, it was like they'd disappeared off the face of the Earth if Chiaki's concerned calls were anything to go by. Yet, Kaoru would occasionally get cute emojis and something painfully sappy, and he would send the rare heart to reach out, remind Madara that he still thought of him.

It hurt, but he was kept so busy that he didn't have much time to think of it.

Before he knew it, two months had passed and he hadn't gotten one voicemail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There might be more editing while the ESO week is ongoing. ;) writing is so satisfactory, like eating soap! or other uncomfortable impulsive things!!!!!1!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my MadaKao teammates for inspiring me and supporting me to work hard on this! I appreciate you both very, very much!<3 And thank You for reading!!!
> 
> This is still being written-- just at a slower pace than one week! ;w ;
> 
> Twitter: @opanimeboyy


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